I am who I am
by Xross-33
Summary: Set after the Finale. I have a lot of things now, friends, a sister, a girlfriend. But I would give all of it up, I would make the world my enemy, nothing could get in my way if there was a path that leads me to him. I am not human, I am not clothing, I am who I am; and Senketsu is the only one who ever truly understood me.
1. My story hasn't ended yet!

I have things now, things that I never thought I would have before. Friends: me a Nonon hang out all the time. A sister: its been difficult but me and Satsuki are actually close now, we've been sharing an apartment for a couple of weeks. I even have a girlfriend, sort of, it's hard to say what exactly Mako and I are. While all of those things are great, the thing that I want the most is gone forever. Senketsu. My best friend, my partner, my equal. The only life form that can truly understand me.

I'm laying on the couch thinking of Senketsu again when Mako walks in the door, "RYUUKO CHAN!" She runs over and throws herself on me. I don't even grunt at the full force of her weight, another reminder that I'm not human. "Ryuuko what are you doing here! Satsuki said you've just been lying here all day. We should go out and do something!" Without waiting for a response Mako jumps up and attempts to drag me away from the couch, I don't budge.

I sigh, "Maybe some other time Mako, I'm tired."

"From what?! You don't do anything anymore!" Is Mako actually mad? "We haven't went on a date in weeks, you don't spend time with Satsuki, you and Sanageyama haven't fought in forever, you don't even go to school anymore! What are you even doing with your time? Ryuuko chan is Ryuuko chan, and Ryuuko will always be Ryuuko and a Ryuuko that doesn't spend time with her friends isn't the Ryuuko I know!"

Mako finishes her speech out of breath finally giving me some time to think. She's right I haven't done any of those things in weeks. I sigh again and halfheartedly reply, "Fine, lets go on a walk."

Mako leads me around in the summer heat talking animatedly about one thing or another, I'm not really paying attention. The clothes on my body feel foreign. They're not Senketsu. After I ripped of Junketsu those many months ago I swore I would never take Senketsu off again, wearing these feels like a betrayal. I should just rip them off, its not like I need them, I don't get warm or cold anymore, I'm sure that if my body can survive in the vacuum of space ill be fine anywhere.

Before I can finish my train of thought I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look over and see not just Mako but Sanageyama as well, dressed in a black gi with his own bamboo sword in his left hand, and a practice sword in his right hand, sigh.

"Matoi! I challenge you! Duel me and show your skill!" He holds out the extra sword to me while bowing. I'm about to tell him no but a look from Mako tells me that that isn't an option. Sigh.

I take the sword and take a step back, right now we're in an empty public park. Sanageyama is several feet away in his classic kendo stance Mako is in the middle but out of our way. She raises her hand in the air, "Ready, GO!"

When Mako's hand drops Sanageyama rushes at me blade held high. This is ridiculous. Right before the hit would land striking me directly on the forehead, I move. Its so easy almost like he's moving in slow motion. Is this what Nui was complaining about? I get where her sense of superiority came from now. I throw my sword down. "What's wrong Matoi, to chicken to fight without your ugly getup?" Sanageyama called out. That struck a nerve.

My expression grows dark as I answer him, "Watch your self Sanageyama. I don't need a blade to beat you, or Senketsu. I threw down my sword because a piss poor swordsman like you doesn't even stand a chance at beating me. I could block your flimsy blade with one hundredth of my strength. His eyes narrow and he glares at me, Were not playing anymore.

Mako seems to sense the change in atmosphere and tries to interject, "Um maybe we should take a break, my mom made Croquettes!" Neither of us pay her any mind.

Faster than before Sanageyama is on me. Feet planted firmly, swinging the blade horizontally for a strike that would severely injure any human. I could easily dodge it. But I want to prove a point. I raise one finger, my pinky finger, and stop the blade in place. Sanageyama looks at me shocked. "Right now im stronger than I ever was when I fought you, even with Senketsu." I lean in close to him, "And if you ever insult Senketsu again, you wont survive the ordeal." I punch him in the gut using not even half of my strength and he goes flying. I think I felt a rib break.

After that Mako was so mad that she wouldn't talk to me as she left to help Sanageyama get to the hospital, not that I cared much. I've been walking aimlessly for the last couple hours its only now that I find myself in front a very familiar building. "Honnoji Academy." Well it's not an academy anymore. After everything was settled, Mikisugi and Satsuki turned it into a museum with information about the life fiber war that we struggled in. The sign says there still open so I decide why not?

This is the first time I've been in the museum, Satsuki knows that I don't care much about things like this so she's never even asked me to come. I stop at an exhibit with a picture of my father. 'Soichiro Kiriuuin/Issin Matoi. The founder of the anti-life fiber movement. He trained his two daughters, Satuki Kiriuuin, and Matoi Ryuuko to resist the life fibers and fight for humanity.'

I scoff at that. "Not really; he may have prepared Satsuki, but when he handed me that scissor I had no idea what he intended for me. When I think about it now it sounds strange, he said, "take this scissor and you'll find the one who killed me." At first I thought he meant Satsuki, yet it was Nui who killed him and if she was looking for me its her who would have found me. Did he really intend for me to fight Nui then? If I had she would have killed me before I found Senketu or my life fibers had even activated I would have died immediately. If he really wanted to help me he should have told me where to find Senketsu.

I look down at the display case, where they have the rending scissors, 'Humanity's Ultimate weapon against life fibers.' Again wrong, those scissors didn't defeat Ragyo, they couldn't even cut her, Senketsu did.

The deeper in to the museum I walk, the more uneasy I feel. My blood runs hot and I can feel my heart pumping faster. I pass an exhibit on the elite four, then one on Ragyo. When I finally reach the end there are only two exhibits left, as expected one on Satsuki, with bakuzan in its case. What I didn't expect was the size of my own exhibit next to hers. Both of our exhibits are in the same long hallway, hers along the wall, mine however takes up the entire back wall, if I was paying attention I would have seen it long before now.

There's a statue of me, wearing Sendketsu next to the exhibit, 'Matoi, Ryuuko, hero of humanity wearing her battle Kamui.' The description of me is lengthy telling pretty much all of my adventures since first arriving in this place. However in the whole description they never use Senketsu's name. They never mention that I'm a life fiber being. At the tend it just says 'Using her battle Kamui, as well as collected life fibers from Satsuki kiriuuin's battle kamui as well as all of the goku uniforms, Matoi defeated Ragyo and saved the world.' There is nothing about Senketsu, Nothing about what I really am. Satsuki is trying to cover it up. Is that why she didn't want me to come here? She didn't want me to see! She knew I would be angry. The uneasy feeling inside be grows the more heated I get.

I cant believe she would do this. She talked with Senketsu, they fought together, and she's willing to just let him be FORGOTTEN! I lose it. I punch the wall in my rage; the left side of the hallway crumbles into dust and my knuckles don't even hurt. The uneasy feeling increases ten times, its like my blood is on fire. When the dust clears I don't see what I expected, I see stairs leading down deep beneath the museum. If I remember correctly that's where the sewing club headquarters used to be.

Without hesitating I begin my descent, "What else are you hiding, Satsuki Kiriuuin?"

When I get to the bottom of the stairs, I can feel them. Life fibers, tiny ones floating in the air. This place must not be as abandoned as it seems, the sewing machines were at work recently. My only question, where did they get the life fibers? All normal fibers should have died off months ago without hosts, Junketsu was absorbed by Senketsu and Senketsu burned up in the atmosphere. I should be the only source active life fibers on the planet.

I begin to walk slower as I hear voices ahead of me. "Do you think this will work?" that was definitely Satsuki, what is she doing here?

"Honestly? No, nothing we've tried has worked so far, and at this point I don't think Nui, or even your father could even do it" Is that Iori? What is he doing here? He's a big fashion designer now; last I heard he was living in Paris.

I take another step forward and the voices go silent. I crouch on the ground and move as stealthily as possible towards the room Satsuki is in. Or was in, I'm right outside the door now and I can't hear a thing, maybe they left out of a back entrance?

I creep through the doorframe, but before I can even look around, I feel a something against the side of my head. "Don't mo- wait, Ryuuko? What are you doing here?" Satsuki is standing pressed up against the wall holding a sewing needle gun to my temple.

I stand up but don't answer her. This room is an observation room, probably where the first goku uniforms were made; I can see a giant sewing machine in the other room through a glass window. But it's not the machine I'm interested in, from here I can see a piece of red cloth nailed against the opposite wall in the sewing room. "Satsuki." My voice is as even as I can make it, there must be a misunderstanding, that can't be what I think it is, I have to be calm and understanding so that Satsuki can explain it to me. "What is that?"

Satsuki's eyes narrow, "its nothing, just a project me and Iori are working on."

In the corner of my eye I see Iori inching away from us, "Just a project? Using life fibers? Where did you even get life fibers from?" The anger is starting to seep into my voice. "Just one more question. Is it him?"

She opens her mouth but hesitates, "He's dead. I didn't want to tell you because it would only make you feel worse, Iori and I were trying to revive him."

Now my voice is dripping with malice, "Your lying to me! Kiriuuin Satsuki! Do you think I can't tell while in the same room as him? We are of one body, one soul! Senketsu is alive!"

I take off in a burst of speed launching through the observation window directly at Senketsu, I hear Satsuki shout behind me, "IORI!" I'm closer now I can see, I can make out Senketsu's scarf, it only has one eye on it and it's closed probably in deep hibernation, but alive.

Suddenly giant metal doors slam shut in front of me, blocking me off from Senketsu. I turn and see Satsuki running towards me, "You need to stop this Ryuuko, I didn't tell you for your own good." 

For my own good? "LIAR! Senketsu is here, alive, the one thing that means more to me than anything! Nothing good can come from us being separated!"

I turn back around and punch the wall with all of my strength, I can feel my life fibers reacting to Senketsu's presence. My hand pierces through the wall like paper. I punch the other hand through and begin prying the door open large enough for me to get through.

There he is, Kamui Senketsu. I reach out and pull him from the wall, stroking his eye gently. "Stop this Ryuuko. Last chance." Satsuki is behind me leveling a sewing gun at my face.

I ignore her, and bite my thumb drawing blood. The would heals almost instantly but there is still blood on my skin, I put my thumb to Senketsu, and my heart skips a beat when the moisture is immediately absorbed. I start crying, "Senketsu!"


	2. The Wind Will Dry My Tears!

The Wind will dry my tears!

"RYUUUKO!" Senketsu's eye shoots open and he wraps himself around me so that I'm wearing him like a scarf again. I feel the life fibers within me resonate with his, his very presence both calming and empowering.

I'm whole again.

Now to deal with what separated us. I turn to the person who betrayed me, Kiriuuin Satsuki, my older sister. "Why? Why did you keep him from me?"

Satsuki kept her gun trained on me as I slowly rose to my feet. "You have to understand Ryuuko, it was for the best. It still is. The world is finally free of life fibers! Free from the oppression that has ruled us from the shadows for our entire existence! Senketsu is no longer necessary."

"What about me eh? I'm not human, both Senketsu and me are neither human nor clothing. Or did you forget? You left it out of your museum." I spit at her in contempt. "Also, take that gun out of my face you know it won't stop me."

She lowered her hand but kept her glare raised, "Do you understand the significance of Senketsu's second eye?" I give her a skeptical look, "Senketsu's left eye allows him to see as a human would, its only natural for life fibers to be able to find and devour their prey, it's necessary. His right eye is his connection to the life fiber hive mind. You may have destroyed the original life fiber that that isn't the only life fiber. There are others, all throughout the cosmos, destroying planets just as Ragyo tried to do here." She takes a deep breath, "I wont lie to you anymore Ryuuko, me and Iori were trying to destroy Senketsu. Right now he is more human like than any life fiber, he has the immortality of life fibers, with the thought processes and ingenuity of humans. If life fibers were to ever land on this planet again. Senketsu will turn to them and he will aid them and earth will have no chance. Soon he will evolve to the point where he needs no host. When Matoi created Senketsu he intended for him to die fighting."

I can't believe what I'm hearing, Senketsu, fighting against humanity? Finally Senketsu speaks on his own, "There is some truth to what you say, when my right eye opened I was able to communicate with my own kind. That was the key to defeating Ragyo; it's why Dr. Matoi gave me the ability to absorb life fibers. But I would never fight against humanity. My loyalties lie with Ryuuko" I feel more than I see his eye narrow at Satsuki. "Also if what you say is true then surely Ryuuko is more dangerous than I?"

I don't say anything, its true, plus I want to see what Satsuki has to say about this. "You are correct." I'm not surprised, Satsuki always has the answers. "That was the second goal of Iori's research. Finding A way to return Ryuuko to her human form."

I look at Satsuki, really look at her for the first time. Ever since she was a child her father told her of life fibers and she's lived her entire life in fear of a future of being subjugated by life fibers and spent her entire life fighting against them. She could never truly accept me, not with the way I am. I walk past her and step through the doorway I made. "You realize I can't let you go right? For the sake of humanity I will eliminate the life fiber threat. Having family ties didn't stop me before.

"We both know that you don't have the means to stop me." I sigh. I don't want to do this, I want to run to her, throw my arms around her and change her mind. But I know that will never happen.

"I may not be able to stop you now, but I will hunt you down with the full strength of the Kiriuuin conglomerate behind me." She stops for a moment, looking remorseful. "Its not to late, you can give me Senketsu and come back to humanity."

I can't describe how depressing, the thought of Satsuki my older Sister once again becoming my enemy makes me. I look down and see Senketsu's own eye staring back at me. The idea of losing Senketsu who was always at my side, and accepts me for me, is far worse. I can't go through that again. "You know me better than that. I'm gonna to miss ya sis. I'll be out of here as soon as I can, just give me a head start."

I'm about to make my way out of the museum when Senketsu speaks up, "Ryuuko, aren't you forgetting something?" Forgetting? Oh right. I walk back to my fathers exhibit. The alarm goes off when I smash the glass and walk out with the rending scissors before shrinking them down and putting them in my jacket pocket.

I talk with Senketsu as I walk back towards the apartment. "Ryuuko, shouldn't you be more worried? Satsuki Kiriuuin is a dangerous enemy it is unlikely that she would consider giving you a head start. Even without a kamui she can still prove troublesome."

"I am worried however, we shouldn't need to worry much for a while. Satsuki never planned on me finding you. If she has plans to stop me I doubt they will work with both of us watching each other's backs. More importantly where is the rest of you?"

His eye closes in concentration before opening again. "I don't know. However I believe this is also nothing to worry about. In my evolution I am becoming more and more like you. After we were separated during our reentrance to the atmosphere the majority of my life fibers were actually scattered rather than destroyed. It took several weeks but using the last reserves of your blood that I had I managed to pull this portion of myself together; I noticed that even some of my destroyed threads had regrown. I have the same regeneration ability that you and Nui had; only I need blood to power me. While I can regrow ordinary life fibers, to become complete it will be necessary to retrieve my lost banshi. Even now I can sense their presence across the country. When Satsuki found me I had just enough awareness to recognize her."

I hesitate to ask, I almost don't want to know. "What did she do to you?"

Senketsu pauses for a moment, collecting his thoughts, "I don't know. Almost immediately upon seeing her my memories stop. The next thing I remember after that is tasting your blood and waking up in my current form I believe however with enough time my body shall regrow if we recover the necessary banshi."

"Then that will be our first priority. In the mean time take as much blood as you need to recover."

"The usual amount is fine, you will need your strength for when Satsuki decides to strike. I wouldn't be surprised if she brings back nudist beach to hunt us down."

I laugh at that, "Those idiots. Let them try."

When I get back to my apartment I grab a backpack and throw food and all my spare cash inside before I head out the door again. "Ryuuko where are we going?"

"For tonight Mako's. We'll leave the city in the morning." When I walk into Mako's apartment I'm surprised to see the lights on. "Mako?" I hear some noise coming from the bedroom so I walk over there.

"Senpai!" That was Mako's voice. Is someone in there with her? As I walk closer and I hear her giggling as I get closer.

"Mako?" All of a sudden the voice gets quiet and I hear frantic shuffling coming from the room. When I grab the doorknob, it's locked. "Mako are you alright? What's going on?"

"Um just give me a minute!" I wait patiently for another minute before Mako opens the door looking slightly ruffled. "Um- hi Ryuuko. I didn't hear you come in. What brings you here?" then after she looks at me for a second "Is that Senketsu!"

"I had a fight with Satsuki, she was hiding Senketsu from me. Apparently she's had him for months. I wanted to see if we could stay here tonight. Is somebody over?" I look behind her and see her open window with the screen missing. I step past Mako into the room. Her bed looks hastily made. "Who is senpai?"

Mako blushed, "Um I was- just having soooooome…" I give her an expectant look, "Alone time." Her face was as red as a tomato.

"What do you mean by- oh, oh you were!" Her reddening face confirms my suspicions. "Oh uh, m-my bad. I can go. Do you want me to come by later?"

"Oh no, uh it's okay."

Silence. If possible I think we both blushed even harder. Thankfully Senketsu chose then to speak. "It is good to see you again Mako. Your family has always taken care of me and Ryuuko. I have always had a great personal respect for you."

Mako still a little red in the face responded to him, "Respect me? For what?"

"You have always stuck with Ryuuko and helped her no matter the circumstances. Remember it was you who fought along side me in freeing Ryuuko from Junketsu. Something I still haven't thanked you for. And I don't doubt that you have been making sure Ryuuko is safe in my absence."

"Oh it's been no problem, Ryuuko chan's been a little difficult since you disappeared, but Ryuuko chan is Ryuuko chan and I would do anything for Ryuuko. My best and first friend! Just remember that you're my friend too Senketsu. I was so worried about you! You guys are welcome to stay here. Satsuki bought me a fancy new dress the other day and I'm sure you'll just love the hangar it came with!"

"Cool, so Ill just sleep on the couch?"

Mako turned red again, "Actually the other day I kind of set the couch on fire." I turn around. I didn't notice when I walked in but where the couch used to be is just an empty space with scorched carpet underneath. "If you want you could…. stay in my bed? Its really big so there'll be plenty of room. And we're going out anyway. So it's no problem right?"

I almost giggle at Mako's nervousness. Even before we started going out we would occasionally share the same bed. Now that I think about it, we were a lot closer before we started going out together. I'm sure that's the opposite of what Mako wanted when she asked me on a date. I've tried to live out the life I thought Senketsu would want me to. But eventually my resolve broke and my longing for Senketsu dominated everything else. Even my feelings for Mako.

"Ryuuko."

I sit up as much as I can without waking Mako who's asleep on my arm. Senketsu is tied around a hangar and hanging from Mako's closet door. "What is-"

"Hmm senpai." Mako mutters in her sleep.

I whisper a little quieter, "What is it Senketsu?" I look over at the clock and see that it's only four am.

"The house is surrounded." Wait what? "As I predicted Satsuki isn't one to give 'head starts'" I should have figured.

"How many?"

"Only four." Four? Probably the elite four. I move to get out of bed but I feel Mako still tugging on my arm.

Her eyes open just a crack, "Where are you going, Ryuuko chan?"

I get out of bed and put on my jeans that I left on the nightstand. I slept in my shirt so I just grab my jacket and put my arms through. Mako follows my lead and starts getting dressed as well. "Ryuuko chan?"

I start tying my shoes, "The elite four are here." I finish my right shoe and start tying the left.

"Are they here to-?"

I stand up and grab Senketsu off of the hanger, he wraps himself around my neck. "They're here to fight. They want to destroy Me and Senketsu. Because of what we are." I walk out of the bedroom towards the front door and grab the rending scissors that were leaned against the wall. "You should stay here. They shouldn't bother you."

Mako jumps in front of my hand before I can reach the door knob. "NO! Ryuuko those are our friends out there! Maybe they can be reasoned with. You might not have to fight! Let me go with you we can talk to them, together!"

I sigh and pat her on the head "I don't think that's going to work Mako." I move her out of the way and open the door.

I take a few steps outside and am immediately surrounded. I don't even look up, I know who they are. Nonon speaks first, "Ryuuko. Please. Don't make us do this. It's not too late!"

That makes me angry. I turn to look at her and see her dressed in some sort of strange outfit I've never seen before. It's like a jump suit with bright pink shin guards and arm guards. "Not too late eh? You knew didn't you! You knew what Satsuki was doing! What she was hiding from me!"

Sanageyama talks from my left, wearing a similar outfit but dark green. "You know it isn't like that Ryuuko. Satsuki only wants what's best for humanity!"

"And what about what's best for me! Satsuki want's to change me! Destroy me." I hear Senketsu talking in my head. 'Calm down Ryuuko, your blood is about to boil.' I take a deep breath before speaking again. "Regardless you can't do anything about it. Senketsu and I are the last source of life fibers on the planet. I doubt the four of you would even put up a decent fight." I smirk, earlier Sanageyama couldn't even touch me.

Inumata is behind me, "Don't underestimate human ingenuity. We've perfected the technology your father started working on. Creating Senketsu was a stopgap measure. His true goal was to create a way for humans to fight life fibers without using them." He gestures to his own blue outfit. "These power suits were created by studying the properties of life fibers. Using human technology and by studying Senketsu we were able to recreate the empowering affects of life fibers synthetically."

So that's what they're wearing. Not that I'm worried. I doubt that they could be stronger than us. Before I can reply Gamagoori talks from my right. "You knew we were coming yet you still retreated to Mako! You were willing to put a human life in danger just to satisfy your own selfish desires! It seems you've lost sight of the true enemy here! Even if the academy is no longer functioning I IRA GAMAOORI will defend all former students of Honnoji Gakuen!"

Suspicious, "Never heard you call a student by their first name before." He blushes, even more suspicious. "How did you know I was here? Or do you happen to hang around Mako's apartment often." I frown as his face turns red. "Whatever, are we gonna fight or what?"

"Matoi!" Sanageyama runs at me first a green bamboo sword held high. 'Ryuuko!' He swings, I raise my left arm to block, and the force behind the strike is strong enough to push me back a few inches. I swing my right arm holding the scissors for a counter attack, but he jumps back quickly, too fast for any normal human. Suddenly I feel massive arms around me as Gamagoori bear hugs me from behind. I struggle but his grip is too strong. Inumata is suddenly in front of me, he jabs me three times before I manage to wiggle out of Gamagoori's grip and jump back.

"You weren't joking huh? With those suits it's like your still wearing your Goku uniforms."

'Ryuuko! Behind you!' I turn only fast enough to see the giant pink heart smash into me and slam me into a building. "Don't forget! We're called the elite four because there are four of us!" Nonon, I won't make the mistake of forgetting about her again. "Give up Ryuuko, you never fought all four of us at once before. You can't win."

I almost laugh. "Senketsu, can I synchronize with the life fibers you still have available?"

'Back in Osaka when we tried it was impossible to Synchronize without at least ninety percent of my material.' Damn. 'However with your current power while I don't believe we can achieve true life fiber synchronization, we can synchronize at a lesser level.'

I smile back at the elite four, "Please, we haven't even gotten started yet!" I bite my lip and let the blood drip into Senketsu. Internally all of our fibers begin resonating at the same frequency. "Tei Hin Ittai!" (Low Frequency Syncronization!) The eye on his scarf grows and becomes even more pronounced I feel his power being added to mine. "Why don't you try coming at me again, elite four?"

Again Sanageyama charges me "Men!" I knock his sword to the side with my scissors, he follows his momentum and kicks at my midsection but I grab his foot and throw him over my shoulder. I sense Gamagoori behind me, he throws a massive fist my way so I catch it with my hand. He punches at me with his other arm I quickly release his first arm and run up the length of his other arm and kick him in the face. I use rending scissors to reflect several projectiles from Inumata.

The three of them come at me again, and it's almost funny how big of a difference the little bit of power I get from Senketsu makes. I dodge Sanageyama's sword; throw Gamagoori at inumata; Nonon fires a projectile from the background and I use my free hand to grab it and throw it back. This is almost too easy. 'Ryuuko, try not to enjoy yourself too much.'

"What's the problem Senketu? It's not like we could ever lose to them." I deflect Sanageyama's sword to hit Gamagoori's fist.

'We're working on a limited supply of blood. Without the Seki Teko to provide constant blood flow, I will soon run out of energy.' I spin around Gamagoori to kick Inumata into Nonon.

"Alright I get it, ill finish up soon." I look at the elite four, looking anything but elite, panting in front of me. "Let's get this over with." The full scissor is a little over kill so I separate the blades and put the second half back in my pocket.

Holding the one blade I dash at them; Sanageyama tries to block my initial strike but my blade shatters his and scratches him deeply across the chest. After that Nonon and Inumata charge me at once. I duck under Inumata's kick and bat Nonon' blast back at her. Jumping from a crouched position I slice inumata vertically as I ascend. On the way back down I kick Nonon in the face knocking her out. Three down one to go. Gamagoori glares at me putting his fists up. Like that could stop us. I dash at him scissor blade held high. As I swing the blade down there's a blur in front of me and I stop my strike right before I would have cut down Mako. "Get out of my way Mako."

The look on her face tells me I'm going to be disappointed by her answer. "No Ryuuko chan! I won't let you hurt Senpai! Beca-"

"Senpai?" I take a step back. Mako's eyes go wide. "I think I get it now. No wonder you knew exactly where I was. You were at Mako's when I walked in weren't you." His face is all the answer I need. "How long Mako?"

"When was the last time you cared about me?" Ouch, I guess that's fair though.

"Fine." I shrink my scissor blade down and put it away as I turn around to leave.

"Where are you going Ryuuko? Aren't we going to talk about this, we can still be-"

"There isn't anything to talk about Mako. Senketsu and I are leaving, Gamagoori should probably take the pitiful three to a hospital, and I suppose you'll go with your Senpai." Even without looking at her I can tell that her eyes are watering up, I'm pretty sure I just broke her heart. Too bad I can't bring myself to care.

I walk into the garage attached to Mako's apartment complex and grab my bike. I run my hand across the surface feeling the scars and dents that covers made. After everything was settled I found the bike that I used when I went to challenge Nui and Ragyo alone, right before I was forced to wear Junkestu. _Never again_.

'Ryuuko?'

"What is it?" I see Senketsu looking up at me. "Is someone coming?"

'No it's just,' I sense his hesitation, 'About Mako.'

Oh that's what this is about, "I'm fine, don't worry about me Senketsu. As long as I have you I'll be fine!" I smile down at him trying to be reassuring.

'I may not completely understand human relationships, but aren't you supposed to be upset when you find out your partner has been cheating?'

My smile thins to a grin, "You watched too many soap opera's with Mako's mom hum?" I swing a leg over the bike and begin rifling around my pocket for the keys. "When you were gone all I could think about was you. Mako tried her hardest but it isn't her fault. The fact that she didn't break up with me sooner just shows how kind she is." My eyes soften, and despite what I said earlier I feel my eyes start to water, "I deserved to be cheated on, I was a bad girlfriend and a bad friend. Yet I still felt the need to throw it in her face, to make her cry."

I feel fabric on my eyes and see that Senketsu has stretched himself to dry my tears. 'You can go back to her if you want. It pains me that feelings for me stood in your way. Mako will forgive you if you go back.'

"But I won't." I put the keys in the ignition. "I knew what I was doing. Satsuki is serious about putting an end to us and she's strongest at Honnoji where she controls everything. We can't stay here, and I can't ask Mako to leave her home. If I have to choose, between you or Mako, I choose you. Every time." I rev the bike and we ride out. Letting the wind dry my tears.

[In the Kiriuin Mansion]

Satsuki sits on a hard looking armchair as Nonon, Inumata, and Gamagoori stand before her. All looking worse for wear. Nonon has a black eye and a massive bruise on her forehead, Inumata has bandages covering his chest (thirteen stiches apparently), Gamagoori's right hand is in a cast and his whole left arm is marred with cuts and bruises.

Satsuki speaks addressing the three of them, "Where is Sanageyama."

Gamagoori bows his head as he answers, "He was injured the most during the battle, he had fractured ribs from an earlier encounter with Matoi and now two of his ribs are broken. He is currently at Honnoji medical center."

"And Matoi?"

Nonon answers holding her bruised arm, "She escaped. Even with UPGRADE we weren't enough. Apparently she can still synchronize with Senketsu on some level. Once she synchronized with Senketsu we couldn't defeat her. Forgive us Satsuki sama."

"It is not your fault my elite four, it was expected that her power would have grown since then. Inumata did you find out anything useful during your encounter?"

Inumata pulls a pda out of his pocket and hands it to Satsuki, "when you previously scanned the Kamui while experimenting with Iori Senketsu's total life fiber count was five hundred and forty three." He presses a few buttons on his forearm, "I was able to perform a quick scan during the battle. While I expect this number may be a little smaller than the actual count my scans picked up about five hundred and eighty life fibers active within it."

Satsuki blinks and looks back down at the pda. "You mean that in the four hours that she's been in contact with it the Kamui has regained almost ten percent of it's original fibers?" She stands up and begins walking down the hall with the elite three following her. "At this rate of growth we have a few days at most before he is at full power."

Nonon is handed an ice pack by Satsuki's butler Soroi. "So what happens when Senketsu is complete?"

Satsuki's eyes show the strain of having previously fought in war. The kind of look that lets you know she has no need for another drawn out conflict. "I don't want to find out. Rest my elite four, I'm ending this personally."

Honestly I wasn't planning on having this out for at least another weak, buuut fuck studying am I right? Please review :3


	3. I'm Thornier than Than any Thistle!

I'm Thornier than any Thistle!

"Ryuuko. You need to sleep." I scoff and keep on riding. "It will be detrimental to your health to continue like this."

We've been on the road for a couple of hours now, Senketsu's complaining has increased dramatically in the last hour or so, and even though I keep telling my self I love him he is working on my last nerve. "Give it a rest already! You said one of your Banshi is close so let's just get on with it. We'll take a break once we find it." I can tell he isn't happy with my decision but at least he grows quiet.

"You realize that Satsuki isn't done pursuing us yet right? She's the type to see all of her endeavors through."

"I know. By now the elite four have reported back to her about how strong we are. I'm hoping that with this next banshi thread we can be stronger than she'll expect us to be."

"It seems that you've had a plan all along." I can hear some pride in his voice. "Very well then Ryuuko, from here on I'll trust your decisions, some times I forget that you aren't the lost girl I found under the Matoi mansion."

I scoff, "you make it sound like you helped me with that. As if a perverted piece of cloth could've helped at all."

He laughs at that. "Oh Ryuuko, what you see as perversion professor Matoi saw as art. He wanted the same thing as I: to show off the best parts of you."

I almost cough, "Best parts? You show all of me!" He laughs harder. Oh. I blush and keep on driving.

[Satsuki]

It's been five hours since my elite four returned to me broken and down a member. I was foolish to believe that this was over with Ragyo. As long as life fibers exist humanity will always be in danger. However even with our species physical weaknesses, compared to life fibers humanity has one thing that they do not. Ingenuity; the ability to come up with new solutions to solve our problems. Ragyo proved that covers and life fiber infused humans were vastly superior physically to normal humans. I've found a way to change that, I open the door to my closet and after pressing a button on the left, am I'm scanned for any traces of life fibers before the reinforced hidden doors open. The interior isn't extremely large, my mother designed for grandeur, I create for efficiency. There is only one thing in the room, a single dresser. I open it and grasp the silky black threads, better than Junketsu. We made this, Iori and I. If Junketsu was a wedding dress, "This is a funeral gown."

[Ryuuko]

"It's near."

I slow the bike to a crawl. I've been driving pretty mindlessly so I take a moment to observe my surroundings. Were on a run down highway running through a small town. I stain my ears and hear nothing. Not surprising, after the life fiber invasion the people in the smallest towns were the last to go. They heard about the COVERS attacks and were able to start hunkering down and try to defend themselves before they came. I haven't heard a single success story. After the invasion many had bad memories of their small towns, of being filled with terror just waiting for the end. As a result there was large migration to the cities leaving small towns like this abandoned and in disrepair.

I slow to a stop next to a dilapidated grocery store. "Mind being a bit more specific Senketsu?"

He closes his eye for a second I presume to concentrate. "It's moving towards us." What? "It's heading towards us on the highway." He looks at me asking about our next move without needing to say it.

I start the bike back up and move it behind the store. "I doubt it's moving on it's own. Who ever it is might not even know that were here. I say we get the drop on em." I climb to the roof of the store so I can get a good view of the road. "How long till they get here?"

"Imminently, maybe thirty seconds before they are visible." I squint and can just start to see a dust cloud traveling up the dirty road. It continues into the town without slowing, and I can make it out as a van with no noticeable markings. "It's definitely there, in the front of the van, maybe in the passenger seat. I nod, I need to make sure that they don't have time to try and drive away. I wait a few more seconds for the van to be in range, and then I jump. I land directly in front of the van. With no room to turn the driver slams on his breaks, the van swerves sharply and skids on its side towards me. Before it hits me I put out my arm, bracing myself against the ground as the van slams into my hand. With little effort the van jerks to a stop.

I jump up onto the side of the van and rip open the passenger side door. There's a brief case that probably has the banshi in it, so I grab from where it's fallen on the driver. After I move it though I immediately recognize the driver. I use one arm and grab him throwing him out of the van. He lands with a grunt on the street. Standing on the van looking down at him I ask. "Why did you have this?"

He sits up, takes his glasses off, and sweeps his blue hair out of his eyes. "No need to be so violent Matoi kun."

"Aikuro Mikisugi, former leader of nudist beach and a now high ranking member of Revocs Corporation; alone driving a van with one of Senketsu's banshi threads?" I jump down to stand right in front of him. "What are you up to?"

Sighing Mikisugi stands up and dusts himself off. "I don't approve of your choice. Satsuki may be being too extreme, but her fears are backed up by data and evidence. However we were allies once, and I owe your father more than I could ever repay."

I scoff, "So what? You stole this from Satsuki to repay a debt? We don't need your help."

"Maybe but, I just want you to have a fighting chance. I'm here to give you a warning, my last act as your ally. You have no idea what you are up against. Satsuki has spent a significant amount of time and money developing anti life fiber weaponry. Yesterday she sent out a missive reorganizing nudist beach." I'm suddenly more wary of Mikisugi. "She's pulling out all the stops, I know you think you're strong but right now the entire world is about to turn on you." He turns and starts walking away. "Today nudist beach is still searching Honnoji, they move this direction tomorrow." He waves as he continues to walk away, "For your sake I hope we don't meet again Matoi."

As soon as Mikisugi is out of eyesight I rush back to the bike and start it up. "Ryuuko, where are we going? If Mikisugi is telling the truth then we still have another day."

I frown, "Do you really believe that he's the only one who could find us?"

I turn the brief case on its side and fumble with it trying to get it open, "I don't know how he found us, but if anyone else could figure it out, it would be Satsuki."

After I release the second latch the case pops open and I'm immediately aware of what Senketsu was feeling before. A single red thread lies within, perfectly preserved. "Ryuuko, when I absorb that thread it may take me a while to integrate it into the rest of my being. It's likely I will be unconscious for the duration. Are you sure I should do this here if your concerned about Satsuki?"

I nod, "We know she's coming but I'm not all that worried. Nudist beach apparently won't be with her, and I'm positive the elite four are still out of commission. What can she do? She's only one person. Just hurry up and get yourself together eh?"

I lift the thread up to Senketsu and it immediately flies into his fabric, he lets out a small grunt before his eye closes. His fabric glows brightly for a second before turning completely black. I would worry if I couldn't still feel Senketsu's life force. I drive around to the highway, I don't know how long this will take and I'll feel much safer a few more miles from Honnoji.

[Satsuki]

I walk into the tech department wearing an overcoat around my 'gown.' "Progress?"

Inumata doesn't turn to me but I can tell that his jacket unzips before he talks, "I was just about to get you, there was a spike in life fiber activity in an abandoned town east of here. Assuming it's Matoi, Using the vectors from here to there and her time of activation I can guess her speed and as long as she's consistent I can guess within ninety-four percent of where she will be over the course of the next twenty four hours."

I crack one of my rare smiles; this is why I surround myself with the best. "Very good Inumata." I turn to my butler and long time friend, "Soroi prepare my helicopter we leave in ten minutes. Inumata organize the Nudist beach forces and send them to where you think she will be headed. I want her trapped." Soroi rushes off to the helipad.

Inumata turns from his computer to face me. "Do you really plan on taking her on alone? Just say the word an I'll go with you."

I shake my head. "That's right, I forget that I haven't told you about my pet project." I turn to the smartest of my four generals and smile, "I'll be fine, I need you here to organize our forces. Besides I think your going to want to take data of our fight."

[Ryuuko]

I yawn as I continue down the road. I haven't slept since Honnoji, maybe I should just pull over a- then I hear it. Light at first, but getting steadily louder, I look over my shoulder and I can just barely see the black shape of a helicopter moving through the sky. Fuck, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself it could just be a random helicopter. I glance back again and see it's gaining on me, the Revocs logo on the side now visible. Didn't think so. I rev the bike riding as fast as I can go, I know I can't outrun it but maybe I can buy time. I glance at Senketsu and see that he's still completely black. "C'mon Senketsu, wake up!" No response. The helicopter is now easily visible, in another minute or so it'll be right on top of me. Fine then. I'm not going to run away and wait to get cornered like some rat. My bike comes to a stop and I step off. The helicopter slows to a stop and a lone figure jumps down. Even before the dust settles I know who it is. "Hey, sis."

Kiryuin Satsuki stands to her full height wearing a brown trench coat, her jet black hair blowing in the wake of the helicopter. She raises one arm and the chopper turns and begins to leave the way it came. "My sister has been blinded by life fibers and turned against her own species."

"You know that's not true Satsuki." I pull the rending scissors out of my pocket. "And you should know that you can't win a fight against me. It took some time to come to terms with, but I am a life fiber being. No human can match me, even your supped up elite four was nothing to me."

She stands up completely straight, her conviction written clearly on her face. I can almost see the blinding lights behind her, "FOOL! It is that very arrogance that shall be your undoing! Before I was constantly under my mother's watch forced to fight life fibers under the guise of promoting them. Now I have the full support and backing of all mankind. Every government turned to Revocs for life fiber weaponry. Humans will no longer be easy prey! Come, Matoi Ryuuko!" She rips off her overcoat revealing her clothing underneath. Somewhat reminiscent of the elite four's outfits she wears an all black suit made of some silky reflective material. White cords and circuits streak across it. Several pates of armor cover vital areas. Her hand goes to her back to grab the gleaming black sword attached to her. "Come and test humanity's strength!"

Her suit is certainly more impressive than the last four I saw, maybe it makes her stronger than them, but I beat all four of them. She only has one sword too, she has to know that she can't hurt me without at least two different blades right? I don't know what her plan is, but I know her well enough to know that standing here thinking isn't going to change anything. I separate the scissors dual wielding them, "Here I come, "Kiryuin Satsuki!"

I dash at her at top speed swinging both blades horizontally at her, she looks a little surprised when I get in her face, but her expression quickly changes back to one of determination, she backflips gracefully dodging my strike at the same time delivering a harsh kick to my chin knocking my teeth together, and snapping my neck upwards. God that hurts! It takes me a couple of seconds to recover. When I do I see Satsuki rushing at me. She swings diagonally but it's slow enough that I easily block it with my left sword and swing with my right. She raises her left arm and my blade stops on an armored section of her forearm. I Kick her in the stomach knocking her back to her original position and creating some space between us. The arm that blocked my blade doesn't even have a scratch on it. "While it's certainly a step above the elite four, I don't like your outfit. Although I guess it's better than Junketsu. What's it's name?"

She flexes her fingers, opening closing her fist. "Don't compare this to that ravenous cloth. Junketsu was a monster, bent on the total subjugation of humanity. This," she gestures to her clothing, "this is human made, it has no consciousness, and is a tool to be used as a weapon. It has no name."

I glance at the left arm and see a familiar apparatus. "You talk big but I can see that you've carried over some of Junketsu's fashion." On her left arm, in white is the same pinprick mechanic that she used to activate Junketsu.

She puts a hand to her ear, "Is that all you needed Inumata?…..I understand… Continue with the plan." She turns back to me. "Rest assure this is no kamui. Let me give you a true test of my power!"

She rushes me again, swinging diagonally once more. I brace to block the blow like last time; however when our blades clash her's goes straight past my guard knocking my blade aside with a tremendous amount of force. Her sword rakes across my chest drawing blood. "Augh!" Without slowing down she swings again, I try to bring in my other blade to block as well but she's too close and another line of red appears perpendicular to the first. I take a step back and she pursues relentlessly. She's trying to end the fight here! I manage to get both swords in front of me to block her next blow, aimed at my neck, and with all of my strength I'm able to fling her away. Still keeping my guard up, I take a second to catch my breath. Where the hell did that come from? I shrug off my now ruined jacket leaving me in my white t-shirt and an all black Senketsu. I can feel the blood running down my chest staining my shirt, why the hell aren't I healing?

I focus on her sword, trying to examine it. She holds it up, "I call it Kami Sori. It's even more effective at cutting down life fibers than Bakuzan or even your Rending Scissors." When I really focus on the blade with my enhanced vision, I can see motion on the blade, microscopic and to fast to tell exactly what it is but with a name like Razor I can guess. I can feel myself getting weaker, the blood loss causing the lack of sleep to catch up with me even faster. The loose blood droplets on my body suddenly defy gravity flowing up my torso, right into Senketsu. I close my eyes as he flashes a blinding light, when I re-open them Satsuki is standing stunned in front of me and my white shirt is gone, replaced with Senketsu's full top.

Both of his eyes open, looking at me, and then Satsuki. 'Sorry it took so long.'

I can't help but grin "Better late than never."

'I can see that you were right about Satsuki. Should we fight or attempt to flee?'

I grip my blades and take an offensive stance holding the right one by my chest with the left pointed straight at Satsuki. "I'm not going to run around like prey waiting to be caught." I feel him draw blood from the two cuts already on my skin. I'm filled with strength as our life fibers sync up, his form changes into a familiar shape, the only difference is that without the skirt his straps instead go over my chest and hook onto my jean belt loops. His big eyes are reassuring on either side of me. "Chuto Ittai!" (Half-way Synchronization!)

I smile feeling Senketsu's power flow through me. Now let's see what big sis can do.


	4. Can't stop me now!

Can't stop me now

Senketsu! I can feel him over my chest, replacing my jacket. Senketsu's barely decent straps cover me in a way that both completely exposes me and provides absolute defense. The latex feel of his sleeves filling my arms with strength. I can see his eyes on either side of me, protruding form my chest. He feels wonderful.

We rush at Satsuki and she barely has time to raise her sword in defense. She's knocked back a few feet but I've already kicked of off a nearby building. I jump over her and by the time she sees me I'm already coming down on her with a vicious kick that strikes her in the jaw. I stand looking down at her as she struggles to get to her feet. "What was all that about the power of humanity Satsuki? Senketsu and I are only at half strength and you can't even stand up to us."

Her unwavering glare turns back to me, "Do not- underestimate humanity, Matoi Ryuuko!" She twists on the ground kicking my feet out from under me and jumping a few feet away. It only takes me a second to get back to my feet but when I look at her she's a few feet away standing in a familiar pose, left arm down and right hand positioned by her left shoulder. "Thanks to our study of Senketsu we were able to isolate the chemical in life fibers that gives their hosts super human abilities. It's untested so I was going to refrain from using it but you've forced my hand. Kiryuin Satsuki will seize victory by any means necessary once her goal is within reach!" She closes her eyes and flicks the pins on her sleeve, I take a step back waiting for some flashy transformation but none of that happens.

Her eyes open and she glares at me with fiercely glowing rainbow colored eyes. Instead of rushing at me she starts walking towards me completely composed, never one to back down from a challenge I do the same. As we near I can feel the pressure of her presence, it reminds me of when I first saw her with Junketsu. She swings Kami Sori and I meet her with both halves of the rending scissors. I struggle against her thinking it's incredible that she can match our strength before I hear Senketsu in my head. 'Ryuuko I believe that we should withdraw'

Run away? We haven't ran once since my rematch with Sanageyama back at Honnoji. "What are you talking about Senketsu?" I put as much force as I can into my sword and manage to throw Satsuki back a few feet, before she dashes at me again and we dance equally matched in swordplay. Senketsu and I are so synced that communicating with him doesn't even break my concentration as I dodge, block, and counter.

'We cannot reach true Jin- I- Itai without the rest of my fibers. Because I cannot be completely worn by you and you be worn by me I continuously need blood to maintain this state.'

Shit I forgot about that, It has been so long since that was a problem. "How much longer we got?" I manage to kick Satsuki in the chest, doing no damage but I suspect annoying her greatly.

'Although your wounds have mostly healed, you lost a lot of blood before I woke up. You have eight minutes before I will be forced to revert form to keep you from passing out.'

That's not good. While we're not losing this fight Satsuki and I are pretty well matched. On closer inspection I may be physically a little stronger and faster than her but not enough to end this quickly. As much as I hate it we need to run. "Senketsu! Wanna try something new?"

I can almost hear his amusement, 'You never fail to fascinate me. I will follow your lead.'

Satsuki hears me call to Senketsu and takes a step back, ready to defend. To bad I'm not trying to hurt her, It's time for a leap of faith. I run straight at Satsuki, top speed. Surprised she turns her blade to block as I jump and kick at her with both feet. Just like I wanted. "This isn't over big sis. She uses her strength to push me off as I kick away from her sending me high into the air. I know that without his bottom part Senketsu Shippu isn't possible, lets see how fast Senketsu is on his feet. "Senketsu Hane!(Senketsu Feather)"

Senketsu's eyes go big for a second as he tries to align a new configuration, he's done before I even start to fall. His two eyes shift to my shoulder blades like Junketsu but spread outwards catching the air like gigantic wings. Although this form is slower than Senketsu Shippu I can already see Satsuki fading into the landscape as we retreat. Yawning I remark, "Okay Senketsu, now I'm ready to take a nap."

[Satsuki]

I activate the coms system on my suit as I watch my sister fly away. "Matoi's destination has changed. It appears she can fly."

Inumata answers from my mansion. "Done. How did the suit hold up?"

I lean against a nearby wall breathing heavily. "The suit is fine, but." I groan holding my head, closing my eyes for a second. When I open them it's to the same color shifting kaleidoscope image as before. "But the Seimei Chi (life blood) needs improvement."

I can hear Inumata typing rapidly, undoubtedly scrolling through the data banks for information about Iori and I's project. The files are only approved for the two of us, however encrypted files were never enough to stop Inumata. "Seimei Chi… . Let's see: artificial chemical created to mimic the affects of life fiber synchronization…In the tests on apes, it produced a four hundred percent increase in strength, side effects include, fatigue, blindness, heart failure, cerebral hemorrhaging, and death. Sastsuki sama. It says that this hasn't even reached the human testing stage yet. You didn't…"

"Change the data entry. I've just started the human trials." Fatigue is right though; if Matoi didn't choose to run when she did I would have collapsed in front of her. It's unacceptable for Satsuki Kiriuin to allow her enemies to see her weak.

"Soichiro is on his way with your extraction, a med team is with him." Good, for now. I'm just going to take a nap. I close my eyes and drift off. "Satsuki? Satsuki are you there?"

[Senketsu]

With no real destination in mind I continue to fly in the direction of the next closest banshi, although I can tell that we're still quite a ways a away. I can hear Ryuuko softly snoring in my grasp as we drift through the sky_. 'I should land soon._'

I spot a clearing in the forest beneath us and glide down to land. I'm able to position Ryuuko leaning up against a tree before I revert transformation. I shimmy off of my host leaving her in her t-shirt and jacket. Without my bottom half moving around is hard but I manage to gather a few sticks together and dig out a shallow pit, my sleeves get a little dirty but I'm sure Ryuuko won't mind. '_A fire should keep her warm_.' But before I can begin to rub the sticks together to attempt to generate heat I hear a growling coming from my right.

There's a single coyote approaching Ryuuko, instantly I put myself in between the two. The creature takes a step back and levels wary eyes at me. '_it has no idea what I am'_ I would spread both my sleeves out to try and scare it away but without my bottom half I need them for balance. The coyote takes another step forward and I look back to Ryuuko hoping to see her rousing, no such luck. The coyote pounces, but it's too high to possibly land on me. Ryuuko! The beast is attempting to bypass me and go straight for Ryuuko! There's no way I will allow that to happen, Never! I use my sleeves to jump into the air to intercept the beast, mid air I pull my right sleeve back and thrust it forward, I may not have much strength but maybe I can convince this mongrel to leave! I feel a familiar sensation in my sleeve and to my surprise when I thrust it at the coyote it transforms into a bright red blade and pierces the beast through the chest. When I land I quickly pull my sleeve out and it instantly reverts to normal. '_Was that senjin form?' _

[Ryuuko]

When I open my eyes it's not above the clouds where I remember dozing off. I'm cold, I clutch my arms to my chest and realize what's missing. "Senketsu? Senketsu!" Oh god, where is he? I bolt to my feet. Was it Satsuki? Did she find me while I was asleep? Did she take him again?"

"Ryuuko." I look around for the voice and my heart fills with relief to see Senketsu hopping on the ground, a bundle of sticks in one arm. I quickly throw off my jacket, shirt, and underclothes and run over to him. He drops the sticks as I throw him on. "Ryuuko! What's wrong?"

I take a second to revel in the feel of his life fibers against my skin. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" I must look like a crazy person.

I bend down to pick up the sticks I forced Senketsu to drop. "I panicked when I woke up and you weren't there. I thought that you were gone."

It sounds silly when I say it out loud. Suddenly Senketsu's fabric tightens around my chest, '_I won't ever leave you alone, Ryuuko.' _This must be a hug, I smile and do my best to hug him back.

I smell something cooking and hear my stomach growl concurrently. "What's that smell?"

"While you were asleep a coyote attacked." A coyote? I almost feel sorry for it, I'm not even sure how much of me is actual meat. I probably taste like fabric. "I killed it before it could harm you."

I notice a fire burning near where I woke up; I can see what probably used to be a coyote cooking rotisserie style over the fire. I add the sticks to the flame and bend over to inspect the meat. "You think it's done Senketsu?"

My stomach growls again and I hear one of Senketsu's rare chuckles. "It's been cooking for approximately thirty minutes, I believe it will be safe to consume." And with that I grab the stick off of the spit and take a bite of the meat. "Be careful it's hot!" My mouth gets a little burned but it heals so fast I just keep eating.

After my appetite is sated I lean back and sigh contently. I look down and see both of Senketsu's eyes looking up at me. I can't help but be curios, "Hey Senketsu. Can you hear anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"Back at Honnoji, Satsuki said that your right eye was for communicating with life fibers, you getting anything from it?"

He closes his eyes for a second in concentration. "I can tell that there are life fibers in the universe, but there so far away they're like faint whispers."

My body stiffens a little at the idea of another invasion. "How far away?"

He opens his eyes again to look at me, "Hard to say, it's odd being included in a hive mind, but they're so far away it's like I have a spotty connection. I only get bits and pieces of jumbled thoughts, and only when I concentrate. At best guess I can say that they are very far away, the closest a few solar systems away."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Good, with Satsuki around I don't really think I could deal with another life fiber nemesis" Alright that's enough waiting around. "Let's go Senketsu, we've still got two banshi to collect. Senketsu Hane!"

[Satsuki]

When my eyes open I'm wearing a medical gown lying on my bed. "Welcome back Lady Satsuki." When I open my eyes my vision is thankfully back to normal. Sitting up I turn and see Sanageyama at my bedside. "The doctor said that whatever was in your system would have killed a normal woman."

I hear a high-pitched laugh as Nonon walks through the doorway, "Luckily for us lady Satsuki is no ordinary woman. How are you feeling."

I turn and let my legs dangle off of the side of the bed. Sanageyama moves to help me up but as soon as I raise my hand he sits back down.

"Kiriuuin Satsuki stands on her own two feet." Supporting myself with the bed. When my feet touch the ground my legs feel strong, I feel strong. I let go of the desk and take a step to grab my sword that's leaning on the wall. As soon as the first step lands, there's an intense sense of vertigo and my vision swims with the overwhelming shapes and colors of the day before.

"Satsuki sama!" When my vision finally returns to normal I'm in Sanageyama's arms. I try to get up by my strength has left me. I begrudgingly let Sanageyama and Nonon help me back to he bedside. "Are you alright? What was that?"

I close my eyes for a second and when I open them again my vision is still tinged with pinks and reds. "A side effect."

Nonon sits down next to me looking concerned. "How long is it going to last?"

I shake my head, I have no answer but also no regrets. I did what I had to do. "Any news on Matoi?"

Nonon hmphs and crosses her arms. "Yesterday nudist beach got the jump on her. They managed to knock her out of the sky but after that the fight was pretty one sided."

That's not good, as bad as the side effects of the life blood is it might be our only chance of fighting her. "Do we know where she's headed?"

Sanageyama sits back down on the bedside chair. "Well because we know that she's after the banshi we harvested from Senketsu we've loaded the other two on trucks each a full guard and have been having them drive nonstop to confuse her."

I lean back in my bed, thankful that my friends are so effective. "Good work, my elite four. Have one of the trucks come to Honnoji, keep the other one driving around."

Nonon pulls out her phone and I assume typing a text to Inumata. "The dog is re-routing the truck farthest from Matoi's last known location, but why?"

"For bait."

Okay I know this chapter is a little on the short side, but I needed to get this out already.

I know that the fight between Satsuki and Ryuuko was a little short but if I let them duke it one of them would have died. Right now the only question is as to whether Satsuki will be able to acclimate to the life blood before Ryuuko can get there. That and if it will be enough.

Please leave a review if you liked it

Thanks for reading!


	5. I'm not your sweet woman!

I'm not your docile woman

[Satsuki]

After a few hours my vision finally returned to normal. When I move to stand Iori is walking into my room. "Satsuki sama. How are you?"

"Let us see." I let my feet touch the floor and tentatively take a step. My legs remain strong and my head unclouded. "Good." I grab my sword from across the room and head out the door with Iori at my side. "Do we know Matoi's current location?"

Iori pulls a tablet out of his lab coat. "We've got sightings of her through several cities. The changes in her route are consistent with the movement of the second banshi thread."

I scowl, it's not surprising that she can track banshi but it doesn't make this any easier. "How long before she catches up with them?"

Iori studies the map again. "Not long, maybe a few hours, she's moving remarkably fast."

I sigh as we make another turn to the less frequented part of my mansion. "Do you think they have a chance?" The look on his face is enough of an answer. "How long before the life blood is useable?"

He swipes a few times bringing up another display. "There are still some major side effects. The fundamental problem is that we're trying to force the strain from a kamui and a wearer on a human. For starters life fibers can sense a wider spectrum of light than human eyes and that's why you were experiencing vision problems, it's your brain trying to compensate for the extra information. As for the stamina usage for maintaining that amount of muscle fiber activation, I have a theory about that but for a completed product, it will take a while."

I think for a second as I punch in the key that leads into the Kiriuuin lab underneath the mansion. "If you were to focus on just one problem. Do you think you could have it done in a week?"

He looks at me strangely as we begin descending the steps. "Probably, but even one of the side effects could be crippling, if I fix the exhaustion you still risk blindness, and if I fix blindness the muscle strain could be fatal."

"Fix the fatigue problems. I can still fight without my eyes."

He looks at me wide eyed but makes a note on his tablet. "This is only assuming we have a week. This data suggests that Matoi will be here in maybe four days; five at the most if nudist beach can slow her down. I'm not counting on it though. Where are we headed by the way."

We pass the door that would lead us to the room where Senketsu was stored before testing in the laboratory below Honnoji, _'LFS 1-KS' _I stop in front of a door labeled _'LFS 2-HN'_ "We're here to buy some time."

[Ryuuko]

'_Ryuuko, you're running low on blood, I recommend stopping in this next town for sustenance.'_

I want to argue but I am feeling a little light headed. We're above a small city so I land on a nearby roof letting Senketsu revert to his standby mode. My stomach growls soon after I land. "How does a whole coyote only last me two hours?"

'_The extended time in Hane form is rapidly draining your stamina. Acquiring another vehicle would be a safer mode of transportation.'_

I walk through the door on the roof and start heading down the stairs, "Maybe, first let's grab a bite though, I'm in the mood for some barbeque how about you Senketsu?"

'_Considering your MSG and cholesterol levels after your last barbeque venture I would prefer it if you didn't.'_

I sigh as I open the door at the bottom of the stairwell, "Geez I forgot how much of a kill joy you could be. Where are we anyway?"

I open a door and enter into a hallway crowded with about thirty high school students. The crowd goes silent as I exit, "Who's that?"

"Is she new?"

"She looks hot!"

"But what is she wearing?"

Ugh I forgot how annoying school could be. I push my way through the crowd following exit signs to find my way out. Luckily after a minute or so the bell rings and the majority of students are out of my way. Which is why I'm so surprised when there are three guys standing right in front of the exit. They turn to notice me and the one in the middle let's out a low whistle. "Damn, I didn't know we had any girls like you at our school."

His buddy nudges him, "Naw man look at her uniform, it's like totally different."

My stomach growls again, I really don't have time for this, "Move out of my way I don't have time for you."

The leader's eye twitches, "Who the fuck do you think you are coming into my school and talking to me that way? I think she owes us an apology right boys?" He gestures to his pants when he says apology. I almost chuckle; I suppose I can spend a minute or two teaching these guys some manners.

The big one lunges at me with a fist aimed at my gut, however before I beat him and his friends up what better way to show how weak they are than to let him break his fist on my stomach? That's not how it happens though; about a foot from me a red spike shoots out from Senketsu and impales the incoming fist. Senketsu's voice rings out from my chest, _"You will not lay a hand on her!" _The spike retreats from the fist and the three guys all run away screaming.

"What was that about?" I didn't think it was possible for Senketsu to transform like that.

'_I don't know what came over me. When I saw that degenerate move to attack you my body moved on it's own.'_

I roll my eyes as I walk out the door, "Not that, I mean was that Senketsu senjin?"

'_I-I' _That's odd Senketsu never sounds unsure of himself. _'It's odd. Even with only half of my original form I'm feeling stronger than ever before. I can carry you using Hane even with only half my strength. I don't know what's happening to me.' _

He sounds almost scared. I smile down at him, his two big eyes looking up at me. "I know what's happening to you, your just growing, simple as that."

'_Growing? Ryuuko, I may be more than clothing but that doesn-'_

God I hate his stubbornness sometimes, "Senketsu, we've said it before, we are both human and clothing. How is it so hard believe that you're growing like any normal human? You're becoming stronger and advancing. It's completely natural." Actually this makes something more clear, "So back in the forest you really did kill that coyote by yourself? You're strong for your size. I wonder how strong you will be when you're gully grown?"

[Mikusugi]

I close my cell phone and motion for the caravan to stop. I get out of the van and Tsumugu pulls up next to me on his motorcycle. "Why are we stopping?"

I sigh and run my hand through my hair, "I just got word from Honnoji. Apparently us moving around isn't stopping Matoi kun from tracking us."

He pulls out a cigarette and starts lighting it. "How much time do we have left?" I groan showing him an image of Matoi kun's last seen location, a Mac Donald's in a near by town. "Didn't we just pas through what three hours ago?"

I step out of the car in all my nudist glory and start walking to the back of the truck I look at my wrist where my watch is, one of the few articles of clothing I have. "More like three and a half."

Tsumugu walks to my side and pulls out the key to the back of the van. "How much time do we have?"

Together we open up the back door of the van to see our third generation DTR. "That photo was taken almost three hours ago. Ready our nudists."

As he's walking off to ready our troops he turns his head and asks, "Do you honestly believe we can stop her? A year ago I did it myself but now…"

I almost chuckle at the notion, he hasn't seen Ryuuko lately, and "I'd give us a ten percent chance All we need to do is slow her down."

"I take it Satsuki has a plan then?"

"Satsuki always has a plan."

[Satsuki]

"This plan is dangerous."

"Risk comes from not knowing what your doing."

Iori takes a second to think, "You're quoting Warren Buffett now?"

I smirk, "Very good." We're still standing in front of the _'LFS 2-HN'_ door.

Iori sighs and removes his glasses to look me in the eye. I meet his gaze showing no weakness. "The Satsuki I know does not take unnecessary risks. Are you sure you know what you're doing, what you could be unleashing?" My stare is intense, I convey as much of my confidence as I can to him through our visual exchange. He closes his eyes and smiles. "I suppose Kiriuuin Satsuki always knows what she's doing."

He's right; I do always know what I'm doing, but also about me not taking unnecessary risks. "Do we have a way to control it?"

He scrolls through his tablet flipping through files before stopping on a file I recognize as a failed project of ours. "We discovered that the life fiber inhibitor collar we developed wouldn't be able to affect Ryuuko or Senketsu because of their unique physiology, however we could repurpose it for this subject."

Ah the life fiber inhibitor collar. Designed to vibrate the life fibers in a way that would unsettle them from their delicate lattice, to literally tear them apart. I had hoped to use it to make my sister human again but after a few tests on samples it became apparent that I would have to find another strategy in my search for a cure. "Will it be fatal in its use?"

He scrolls through the page brining up figures and charts from our experiments. "It could be. I can probably make adjustments to it to set a scaling intensity. I'll have a remote made up too. Satsuki I know I can't persuade you from this plan, but can you at the very least promise me you won't open that door before I have the new collar made and installed?"

Iori, always the worrywart, "That, my friend, is an easy promise to keep." I want to spend as little time in there as possible. If I didn't need to buy time I would never even consider this plan.

[Ryuuko]

After eating I quickly took to the skies again in pursuit of his banshi. "How close are we?"

'_Very, they should be within sight soon. Although it's been stationary for he past hour.'_

They stopped? "You think they're waiting for us?"

'_That is the mos- RYUUKO look out!'_

What the? Senketsu and I barrel roll through the air just barely dodging a missile front the ground. When we stop for a second to hover I notice several people on the ground clad in nudist beach colors. "It's just those naked fools again. I'll show them not to mess with us." I guess I can't be too mad though; I was getting bored. Senketsu reverts to standby form and I angle myself to land in the middle of about five nudist beach members. They look startled when I land, "What's the matter? Scared to fight me face to face?" They all pull out similar looking daggers. "I see that they've mass produced the tailor's dagger. But do you really think dull blades like those could hurt me and Senketsu!"

The one in front of me moves to stab but I quickly sidestep and grab his outstretched arm. I spin him around before throwing him into one of his other allies they hit a tree and from the look of their limbs neither of them is getting up anytime soon. Two down three to go. The two on opposite sides come at me at once, one with the knife held high the other coming at me low. I grab the wrist of the knife aimed at my head while jumping over the one aimed at my knees. I plant the knife in the hand I'm holding in the back of my other attacker. At the same time the third assailant tries to stab me while my back was turned to him but I easily kick my foot out and catch him in the stomach following up with a punch to his skull that knocks him out cold. When I turn my attention back to the other two they've managed pull the knife out of his colleagues shoulder. They both charge at me from the front but without even a word from me Senketsu blocks their attacks with two blades of his own while I punch each of them knocking them out.

In the end Senketsu and I are left standing surrounded by five unconscious nudist fools. "That was less fun than I had hoped. Do any of them have the banshi?"

'_No, I would guess that these troops were meant to be a distraction. Based on the nature of this encounter it is extremely likely that they will have an even larger trap awaiting for us at the banshi.'_

I think back to a particularly bad day at Honnoji. "We both know who's probably running this show then, a certain Mohawk bastard with a boner for traps."

'_Almost definitely, I don't suppose you would want to go about this sneakily and carefully?'_

I give him the full Ryuuko smile, "You know me so well Senketsu."

[Mikisugi]

Tsumugu walks up to me and hands me a pair of binoculars. I look through them and see three different smoke trails through in the jungle. "She's faster than we thought."

He grunts blowing a puff from his cigarette, "It's hard to believe how much stronger she's gotten. Back at Honnoji this much would have killed her. I'm not looking forward to when she gets here. We should get ready, we could only have a few minutes."

This is always my favorite part. "Get ready then!" Tsumugu and I both fall into our well-practiced stances. We break into a sprint towards the edge of the cliff I can practically hear our theme music, "Ultimate!" when we reach the edge we both jump with perfect synchronization, true nudist beauty! Our arms are straight back as we slide into the two cockpits of our ultimate, "DTR!"

Our marvelous DTR forms around us, similar to our previous combination but this time made to work in tandem, created out of a new alloy given to us by Revocs Corporation, and forged in conjunction with Satsuki's top scientists, the ultimate DTR! We move our limbs around a bit to make sure that the control interface is working. "Tsumugu, how fast do you think we can reach the young lady?"

Our DTR crouches into a fighting stance. "I know one way to find out. Want to do the honors friend?"

He knows I do, "DTR LAUNCH!"

[Ryuuko]

I pant as I shove the tank off of me. Yes, a tank. "I can't believe those crazy bastards dropped a tank on us!"

'_Do not forget that they shot a knife shaped aircraft carrier at you and the original life fiber.'_

It's hard not to laugh thinking of that fight. In the moment I was so focused on winning and protecting my friends, but when I look back at it the whole thing was pretty ridiculous.

'_Ryuuko, the banshi is moving.' _

Crap they're on the move again, "Where are they going?"

'_It is heading straight for us.' _

Why would they- my thoughts are interrupted as a large machine tears through the trees in front of me. I quickly jump into the air to dodge a giant fist that crashes into the ground where I was standing. The machine is a giant black dotonbori robo with the word 'ULTIMATE' written on the side. "Senketsu, the banshi wouldn't happen to be in there would it."

'_It is.'_

"Of course it is." I land on the branch of a nearby tree, just tall enough that I can look Tsumugu and Mikisugi in the eyes. "Just give us the banshi. If your desecrated army here is any indication you don't stand a chance of beating us. Senketsu and I beat them without even having to transform. Don't make me break your toy."

The robot pulls it's arm back. The closest thing to a response I get is Mikisugi yelling, "DTR PUNCH!"

The machine is fast, but with him announcing his attack it's not too hard to dodge, the follow up kick however gets me by surprise. I'm punted back through several trees before I come to a stop. That actually hurt. Before I can move to get up the robot is on top of me driving me into the ground with another massive fist, "DTR BARRAGE!" Fist after fist assaults me I'm fairly sure that I'm at the bottom of a large crater now.

'_Ryuuko!'_

Enough of this! "GET THE HELL OFF ME!" I brace my self on the ground and reach up to grab the robo's fist. With my strength I'm able to stop it in place, slowly I lift it up as I stand up to my feet. From the edge of the crater I can see Mikisugi's shocked face. "I'm just getting started."

I see their other fist come at me and quickly jump to the right into the tree line. I wait for their next attack but they just look confused. "They must be too slow to keep up with us."

'_Ryuuko they are stronger than any opponent we've recently faced we should synchronize.'_

"You really don't think I can handle this? Check this out Senketsu." Reach into my pocket and take out the red half of my scissor blade, crouching down I watch the robo as its pilots survey their surroundings. They won't know what hit them. As soon as they turn the other way I dash from the trees as fast as I can, I swing the scissor blade out and catch them in the knee, I run without stopping all the way to the other edge of the clearing. When I do turn to look back at them I'm pleased to see that they're now looking at where I previously was still confused. I'm significantly less pleased to see that I barely scratched the paint on their knee joint. "Geez just what is that thing made of? I've cut buildings in half for fuck's sake. Time to go with your plan." I drag the scissor blade across my arm and let the blood soak into Senketsu before the wound heals. His shirt transforms into the skimpy straps that I love, hooked into my jeans. "Chutto Itai!"

That feels better. Hearing my shout the duo turns towards me, "We're locked onto you now Matoi kun! No where to run." As if that would help them. "DTR PUNCH!" When their giant fist comes towards me I bat it to the side and their entire robo is thrown off balance. I jump into the air scissor held high.

"Senketsu where is the banshi?"

'_In the space between the two, there's probably a storage compartment of some sort.' _

Now I know where not to aim. On my downward swing I get the left arm of the robo and my blade is like a hot knife to butter. A blade comes out of the robots right foot and Aikuro is quick again with the attack names. "DTR BLADEOOOO!" I change the angle on my sword and the right leg of the robo goes just as easily as the arm. Now off balance the entire thing falls onto it's side.

"And down it goes." Unable to stand there's nothing they can do to stop me from walking up to them and ripping the banshi out of the center of the machine. The thread in hand I'm ready to walk away when my curiosity gets the better of me. "So tell me Mikisugi, you had to know that this wouldn't even come close to stopping us. What was the point?"

He laughs, looking utterly ridiculous with only his chest and head sticking out of the robo. "Like all of lady Satsuki's pawns. We're only here to buy her time."

Satsuki huh? Last time I was injured and we were evenly matched, but with Senketsu being a step closer to complete I don't see how she can stand a chance.

[Satsuki]

"Iori?"

He's currently in the observation room attached to 'LFS 2-HN' watching the room through the one-way mirror before I walk in. I hear him over the loud speaker in the hall, "The inhibitor collar is working and installed. Both remotes we have should be effective. Be careful though, I don't have the best reflexes."

With razor in one hand I enter my unique pin on the door and carefully step inside. The inside of a room is a padded cell. In one corner of the cell is every manner of broken things, broken toys, broken pictures of Matoi and I, torn clothes (mostly pink), and even the metal bed that was originally for the cell's sole occupant is a twisted piece of metal on top of the pile. In the opposite corner of the room is the cell's sole occupant. The very reason I had a room like this created, a small blond girl, naked and curled into a ball, with her long hair hiding her features like a curtain. Through the tangled mass of hair I can see one blue eye glaring at me with at least as much hate as I used to have.

"Harime Nui." She doesn't move. Iori had said that she was still unresponsive to the name.

I walk closer to her and she doesn't move an inch, the only way I know for sure she notices me is the way her eye follows me. When she speaks her voice is so quiet I can barely hear her. "I want to break you and put you in my pile."

I'm not put off in the least by this, ever since she could move; all she's been doing is breaking whatever we threw in here and piling it up. There was only a single banshi of the original life fiber that we recovered. In the same way that Senketsu started growing back from a thread so did Harime although a much faster. Or at least we think its Nui we were trying to see if she remembered anything, or even if she was actually Harime. But she destroyed everything with equal ferocity, pictures of me, Matoi, Ragyo, and even her own possessions. "And why is that?"

Her answer is immediate, "I want to break everything, and put the whole world in my pile."

"You understand what that collar your wearing does right?"

She touches the red collar with a single tiny finger. "It hurts. It keeps me from breaking. You won't let me break!"

If possible she glares at me even harder. "What if there was something I would let you break?"

It only takes her a second to think about it. "I would break it, and put it in my pile."

Good, I can work with this. I reach into my pocket and pull out a picture of Matoi, "Break the girl in the picture."

_**Okay I hoped you like it please review if you do. One thing I want to cover because I'm sure that someone will ask Nui was a human fetus grown in a life fiber womb, Ryuuko was a human grown in a normal womb and implanted with life fibers. Their physiology is fundamentally different also noted by the fact that Nui can't synchronize with Kamui as well as her natural strength without one. That alone implies that she is more life fiber than human, or at least more life fiber than Ryuuko. **_

_**Thanks for reading review if you like it!**_

:3


	6. I'll show you how I Feel!

I'll show you how I Feel!

[Senketsu]

When I regain consciousness, the first thing I sense is our location relative to my last banshi thread, and we're currently moving towards it? I open my eyes and see Ryuuko above me looking forward, she's forgone pants to instead wear my now completed skirt and on her hand is the Sekki tekko that I must have regenerated with that last thread, and we're in a car? "Ryuuko."

"Hm?" She glances away from the road for a second to glance at me, showing me more of her beautiful smile. "Nice of you to wake up. How are you feeling?"

Feeling? Ah I should check our efficiency now that I've regained another banshi. I close my eyes for a second and concentrate, sensing all of my threads and the totality of my being. That's odd; I recount again with the same result. "I feel perfect."

Her smile shines bright, "That's great! You feel so good too, just imagine how much better you'll feel when we get that last banshi."

"No Ryuuko, I'm not sure how this is possible but when I say that I feel perfect I mean that currently I have one hundred percent of my original life fibers."

I feel the car come to a stop as Ryuuko pulls over. "One hundred percent? Then what about the last banshi?"

"It's definitely mine, I can feel it like I can all life fibers in my being."

She shakes her head, "No I mean what will happen when we get it? Will you be all like one hundred and ten percent?"

"I have no idea."

[Nui]

Controller girl was right, I can feel her, this Matoi girl. I look at the picture again, I don't know why, it makes me happy. Thinking of breaking her, she would look good on my pile. She's this way I know it! I tug on my dress awkwardly as I run towards Matoi. I don't know why controller made me wear this! It's awkward and annoying. I want to break it. I reach up to adjust the collar but a shock makes me put my hand back down. I can't help but growl. I hate Controller, I look at the picture again, Matoi looks similar to Controller, are they related? No, I hate Controller, I like Matoi, she will look god on my pile. I'll make sure that she's at the top.

[Satsuki]

"Inumata, status report."

After a few key strokes a map with a red and pink dots appears on screen. "The pink is Nui's location. And the red is Matoi's projected location assuming she heads straight here as soon as we lost contact with Nudist beach."

Currently Nui is on a direct collision course with Ryuuko. "Based on Nui's physical do you think that she can match Ryuuko?"

Inumata brings up a chart of Nui's life and muscle fiber activation, next to it is data surmised from video footage from Aikuro's ultimate DTR during their fight. If anything, Nui's stats look higher. "We're sure that this data is correct? From what I remember ever since Ryuuko fought Nui during the cultural festival Ryuuko was stronger. She's only gotten stronger since then."

Suddenly Iori's face appears on screen. "I have a theory about that." I motion for him to continue. "This is not Nui, at least not how we're remembering her. Remember in the final battle Nui combined her body with the original life fiber to repair Shinra koketsu?"

I nod, "But the life fiber sample we received matched samples collected from Nui."

Inumata pulls up a diagram showing Nui's DNA on the fiber that the new Nui grew from. "There is no doubt that this fiber was a part of Nui, what I'm saying is that it wasn't a fiber that Nui grew on her own. When she merged with the original life fiber every one of those fibers had to change it to match Nui's DNA making them all Nui. The difference lies in the distinction between the original life fiber and ordinary life fibers. The original was tougher and more able to adapt than ordinary fibers. What I'm getting at is that the Nui that we're using is made up of those same kinds of fibers except concentrated within her cells. The fiber difference could account for memory loss too. Now that I think about it this would definitely affect her behavior as well."

That is unsettling. "So you're telling me that Nui has the power of the original life fiber?"

He shakes his head and I breath a sigh of relief. "No, I'm saying she has more." Shit.

[Ryuuko]

After waking up Senketsu confirmed that I was right to assume that the last banshi is in Honnoji so I got back on the road.

It's only been an hour since then and I'm actually feeling pretty tired after my fight with Nudist beach. I raise a hand to stifle a yawn.

"RYUUKO!"

I slam on the brakes and look around alerted. But what I see is still empty highway, but Senketsu's never been wrong before. "What is it? I don't see anything." I get outside of the car and look around.

"There is another life fiber source on this planet."

Life fiber source? "What do you mean? Like a second original life fiber?" Another invasion would be bad.

He takes a second before responding. "No, it feels like the first one. Ryuuko move fifteen meters to the left."

I do so without even thinking about it. I dive to the side just in time for a yellow blur to zoom past me. "What the hell?" The blur dashes off of the road back into the tree line. "Senketsu, what the hell was that?"

"It's what I was sensing, it's coming again." I expand half the scissor blade and hold it out to block. "On your right!"

Instead of dodging I turn my sword to swing, the blur shoots out from the trees it collides with my blade and my swing is wretched to a halt. My scissor is stopped by a single pale arm extending from the veil of blonde hair, through the hair I can see a single azure eye. My heart almost stops as I recognize my foe, "Nui?"

In my surprise I fail to dodge a punch to my gut and am sent flying back. On reflex my hand goes to cover my stomach. That hurt. "Ryuuko." Senketsu's calm voice brings me back into the fight. "I don't know if this is actually Nui or not, but regardless she has no small amount of strength. I suggest that we take this seriously.

I nod and reach for the Sekki Tekko. 'Ready Senketsu?'

'Of Course.'

I feel the tell tale prick of my skin as I pull the sekki tekko, the sensation of synchronizing with Senketsu is something that nearly takes my breath ever time, I can feel my blood and some of my energy leaving my body leaving me momentarily drained. His life fibers resonate within mine and I can feel him grow and drown me in his presence, it's stifling and not at all under my control, yet somehow comforting. My life fibers begin to resonate with his and I can feel the straps that I used to hate stretch across my skin taut, filling me with power. When I open my eyes I flex the muscles in my hand, feeling strength that I haven't felt for a long time. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. This feeling of completeness and oneness with Senketsu; it makes everything that's happened over the last two weeks worth it. "Jin I Ittai. Kamui Senketsu."

Out of the corner of my eye Nui twitches a moment before she moves, very slight, nothing more that her middle finger twitching, but it's all the warning I need. In less than a second her hand is like a claw reaching for my face, I grab her wrist and throw her over my shoulder to slam her into the ground. The concrete of the road cracks as Nui's small body slams into it, against anyone else I would probably hold back a little, however. "I don't know how you survived Harime Nui." I pull the purple scissor blade from where Senketsu was storing it and it grows to its full size. "But I promise you that it won't happen twice. Harime Nui!"

I growl at her but am taken aback that it's not met with her infuriating trademark smile. She just continues to stare at me with that singular blue eye from where she lays on the ground not even attempting to stand. Her eye seems to glow with mirth as a twisted sneer spreads across her face. "You go on the top of the pile." What the hell does- before I can jump back Nui is on me, her tiny fist slams into my face with much more force than before knocking me back several feet.

'_Careful Ryuuko, it appears she's even faster than she let on.'_

I nod as I wipe the blood from my healing lip. I raise both of my blades defensively. "Come at me Harime Nui."

[Satsuki]

"Inumata, progress."

He presses a few keys on his console, and several pulsing graphs come up. "From her heart rate and blood pressure, it would appear that she's in combat with Matoi."

I want to smirk but I don't allow my self the luxury. This is the stage where the most can go wrong. If the Life Blood isn't completed soon we have everything to lose. There are really only a few out comes of Ryuuko and Nui's fight. The best would be if Nui manages to slow Ryuuko down enough for Iori to finish, if she doesn't than I doubt ill be able to stand before my little sister. If Nui manages to actually beat Ryuuko, then that could actually be worse, if she somehow finds a way to remove the inhibitor then she would be far worse of an enemy to have than Ryuuko. However Satsuki Kiriuuin is always prepared for what comes. "Bring up Iori."

After a few more key strokes, Iori's workshop appears on screen, He nods to me, "Satsuki sama, I assume this isn't a social call."

I let out a small chuckle, "I wish it was my friend. Nui has made contact with Matoi, have you made any progress on the Life Blood?"

He grimaces, "I've actually made significant progress by attacking the problem from another angle. By Mixing in more carbon based material I've managed to lessen the muscle fatigue and in theory, the heart and brain problems that go with it."

Here comes the however, there's always a catch.

"However in doing this as I'm sure you can guess it lowers to overall potency of the mixture reducing the increase in strength from four hundred percent to three hundred and ninety."

That's not bad at all, "My own strength can easily accommodate for the loss in potency. Is that all?"

He shakes his head, "I'd like to reduce the potency further but I have a feeling that you wouldn't allow it."

"You know me so well," I allow my self another smile, it's nice talking to someone who understands me so greatly. "How long could my body take the fatigue?"

"Well based on your last fight with Matoi where two minutes of action caused to collapse. I would guess that you'd have about ten minutes before the effect started to wear you down." He cracks smile, "And that's factoring in your will power, I'd put any normal human at six minutes tops."

Ten minutes is a rather stifling time limit. I'll have to come up with a plan to end the fight in one move if possible. However I doubt Ryuuko will give me the chance. "and the eye sight issue?"

He shakes his head, "I still need more time. How long do I have?"

I glance at Nui's vitals still on the screen. Her heart rate elevated to the point where it would burst a normal human's rib cage and her breathing erratic.

[Ryuuko]

Godamn it! Just how did she get so freaking strong? Yet again she gets into my guard with her stupid little nimble body, I don't have enough room to block so I just grit my teeth and brace for impact as she delivers another agonizing punch to my jaw. The world becomes a spiral of colors as I sail through the air, slamming into the truck I was driving before. It's metal frame curls around my body as I take a second to recover.

I groan and pick myself up, raising my scissor blades. There's a flash of blond to my left and I swing my left blade only for her to disappear. Without even turning around I swing my other blade behind me and am rewarded with a hiss of pain as it sinks into Nui's side. Ha fool me once Nui! Annoyingly before I can turn to press my advantage she's already several yards away, with a hand over her rapidly healing side. "Any plans Senketsu? She's too fast for me to score a solid hit on her."

'_I'm thinking but I am noticing a disturbing trend.'_

That could be good news. I manage to dash backwards a second before Nui destroys the car I was next to, there's a small explosion which of course does nothing to her. "A pattern in her attack would be really helpful." I have noticed that if something works she'll try the same move again almost obviously now that I think about it. But I can only exploit her move after already getting hit by it.

'_Not a pattern in her attack method but in her strength.'_

I jump over her fist and swing my blade downwards hoping to get her head. Instead I see her looking up at me with that same psychotic grin that doesn't quite reach her soulless blue eyes. She bats my blade to the side and jumps up planting her fist in my gut. For the second time in under a minute I'm sent flying across the road, this time rolling to a stop in the tall grass on either side of the highway.

'_It appears that every time that she is injured her proceeding attacks are stronger.' _

His words remind me of when I was under Junketsu's influence. Ragyo mentioned how life fibers become more active when their hosts are under stress or in danger.

"Crap."

_**Ok so about the wait. **_

_**I'm sorry, I though for sure that when summer started I was gonna be turning out chapters left and right. Then summer started and I did nothing but play video games. Apparently writing fan fiction is just my way of not paying attention in school. So with no classes to ignore I did other things. Not that I don't find it fun, I just find other games more fun. **_

_**Good news though, I'm back in school and I have a 3 hour astronomy class that I am so ready to ignore. So I guess my season of Fanfiction is starting again! **_

_**Also I personally felt like this chapter was a bit weak, idk why though (it is about 400 words short of my usual goal but I don't think that's it), if you have an opinion about it or I guess like a pointer or even if you just noticed I was writing differently from normal, drap a review or send a pm, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed **_


	7. Into the Infinite Darkness!

Into the infinite darkness

[Ryuuko]

This is ridiculous! I fall to one knee trying to hold my ground as Nui delivers a vicious cross to my jaw. I'm forced to the ground, my face hits the pavement as she kicks me in the back, both of my arms spread wide, the scissor blades fall from my grasp. I feel so weak, how do you beat an enemy that only get's stronger? Heh, this must have been what it was like for Ragyo fighting me. "_RYUUKO you need to get up! We've fought worse than this, you can't give up!" _I hear Senketsu yelling but I can't get up. My body is healing from the wounds but I'm just so tired. My arms aren't injured but I can barely feel them. I start to feel my eyes close, is this really as far as I can go?

No. I barely remember fighting Nui the first time, my heart filled with so much rage that it consumed Senketsu and I.

I feel Nui's hands on Senketsu as she lifts me off of the ground.

I remember fighting Nui during the cultural festival, when Senketsu and I truly became one, she stood no chance.

I'm able to open my eye to see Nui holding me up one handed by one of Senketsu's straps.

I remember fighting her after I ripped Junketsu off of me, it wasn't just my speed this time she was completely outclassed by my strength, our strength.

She pulls an arm back; her fingers staggered like some twisted claw.

I remember fighting her without Senketsu on that day, even without Senketsu's help I was able to hold my own.

"_Ryuuko we can't give up here!" _

Not after everything we've done to get this far! Nui's hand springs forward right at my face, the feeling in my arms returns and I lift them and grab Nui's wrist using all of my strength to just hold her arm still. I look at her arm and see not one but two pairs of hands grasping Nui: Senketsu's sleeves split off from my arms to become midnight blue hands helping me hold back Nui's arm.

"_We are in this together Ryuuko." _He's right, I smirk, how could I forget that Nui doesn't stand a chance against us. After all it's two v. one.

I lift my legs and kick off of Nui to get some distance. "Senketsu! I'm done playing around how about you?"

His smooth voice fills my head, _"Ha. I'm glad to see that you haven't lost yourself Ryuuko. Do you have a plan?"_

I keep an eye on Nui ,who is looking at me with the same disturbing smile, while glancing at the scissor blades that lie near her feet; luckily she doesn't make any move to grab them. I doubt she's even paying attention to what I say. I glance at my arms and see that at the elbows Senketsu's sleeves still split off into their own forearm and hand. The arms are thick, I'm sure he could hold both of my hands in one of his. "Can you block her while I go for the scissors?"

I watch as he flexes his own arms. _"I'm still unused to having such responsive limbs. I can buy you a few seconds at most." _

I smirk. That's all I need. I watch Nui like a hawk waiting for her to make a move. Her finger twitches, and I spring into action. In barely a second Nui is above me kicking down. I ignore her and run forward trusting Senketsu. I feel the sleeves move and feel the ground shake as Senketsu redirects her kick. _"Ryuuko that's all the time I can buy you!" _ It's all we need. I dive for the blades and roll to my feet when both are in my hands. "_Ryuuko!" _

I turn and immediately swing my blades. There's a spray of blood as the right one catches Nui on the cheek. She staggers back and I take the moment to hold the blades over each other lining up the hole. "Senketsu I'm going on the attack. I'm done letting this bitch get the better of me!" A screw appears and the two halves of the scissors become one again. I haven't had to do this since I fought Ragyo. "Rending scissors, Decapitation mode!" The scissors extend and cross. I'm giving this everything I've got!

Even without looking I can tell that Senketsu's eyes are smiling at me. _"Very well, I'll do what I can to protect you. She's only getting stronger so it's better if we end this in one shot." _

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" The wound on Nui's cheek is just about healed when I dash at her scissors aimed at her midsection. She jumps into the air to gain some distance. "You can't get away from me!" I jump up from the ground, Scissors still trained on Nui, she can't dodge this! She raises her arms to block, "Senketsu!"

"_Leave it to me Ryuuko!" _

His arms extend from my sleeves and wrap themselves around Nui's wrists preventing her from blocking, I ascend towards her and she's got nowhere to run! "Finishing move!" The scissors bite into her flesh and dig in, she's tougher than I thought, but not tough enough! I squeeze the giant scissors closed with all the force I can but I still only gain an inch into her flesh. Goddamn it she's tough!

"_Ryuuko!" _

Senketsu's arm's leave Nui's wrists and return to my sleeves, I can feel his strength added to mine! Nui's arms are now trying to pry the scissors apart, but it's too late. "Together Senketsu!" There's a clang as both sides of the scissor blades meet and Nui splits into two. "SEN I SOSHITSU!" (Life Fiber Loss).

Senketsu reverts to dormant form and I nearly collapse onto the ground. "Man that was tough! Couldn't have done it without you Senketsu." I can't help but to smile down at my uniform. Who would have thought that my clothing would wind up being my best friend? Still this whole thing is bothering me. "So Senketsu, what was that? We definitely saw Nui kill herself in the battle with Ragyo right?"

"_True, and that creature didn't act like the Harime Nui that we're familiar with either."_

A disturbing thought crosses my mind, I want to ignore it but, "You don't think- Satsuki didn't make that thing right? That would be-" The idea that she can tolerate Nui in this world but not Senketsu. It just doesn't make any sense.

"_Hmm, if she was regrown from traces of the original life fiber like I was regrown from my remaining banshi, it's not unreasonable to think that she was under Satsuki's eye." _

How could she? "And there's no way that Satsuki would let Nui run around for no reason." It's not a question, and I can tell that Senketsu knows where I'm going with this.

"_That means she sent her after us." _

That is unacceptable. She thinks that we're the danger to humanity? "Enough." I'm reminded of Oosaka where Satsuki's single minded ambition destroyed an entire city. "Senketsu, I can't let Satsuki continue to do as she pleases. She's willing to go to any extremes to stop us. No matter who get's hurt." 

"_Satsuki has never let anything slow her down if she believes she's in the right." _

Senketsu's words confirm what I was already thinking. I have to end this I have to-

"_Ryuuko." _

I look down and see that Senketsu's scarf is wet, but there's not a cloud in the sky. I reach up to touch my cheek and feel moisture. "I'm crying?"

"_That is the expected reaction. You do not want to kill your sister. We do not need to do this Ryuuko we can hide. What you've already done for me is more than enough. All I require is to be by your side. We don't need the final banshi." _

I want to listen to Senketsu, he's right that I don't want to kill Satsuki, he's right that we don't need that final thread. "But I can't run away from this. If Satsuki re created Nui just to track me down and kill me, then she's gone too far. Her methods are too brutal, people are going to get hurt. Do you think I can live with something like that!? We're going to Satsuki, not for the banshi, and not for revenge. We're going because that's the right thing to do." I told her along time ago that if this was they way that she was going to use life fibers, Senketsu and I would be there to stop her. "I'm coming for you, Kiriuin Satsuki!"

_**Shorter than usual but it's here. Ah I'm sad that this story is winding to an end soon. We're either one long one from the end or 2 or three of this size. Are you exited that the climax is almost in sight? **_

_**Leave a comment if you liked it, thanks for reading!**_


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